Champagne cork extractor and wire cutter

ABSTRACT

A champagne cork extractor comprising a wire cutter and a cork remover which are operated by gripping the bottle neck and a wire cutter handle in one hand and turning a cork extractor crank with the other hand.

' 22 Filed:

United States Patent [1 1 Feliz CHAMPAGNE CORK EXTRACTOR AND WIRE CUTTER [76] Inventor: Jack M. Feliz, 34-808 Via Echo,

Palm Springs, Calif. 92262 Sept. 13, 1972 [21] App]. No.: 288,643

[52] US. Cl. 7/l4.6, 81/3.1 R, 8l/3.l B, 81/337 [51] Int. Cl B25f l/00, B67b 7/44, B67b 7/32 [58] Field of Search 8l/3.l R, 3.1 B, 3.2, 3.36, 81/337, 3.38 R, 3.45; 7/l4.6

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 9/1956 Hardy 81/338 Apr. 2, 1974 3,722,327 3/ 1973 Strassel 81/3,] R

Primary Examiner-James L. Jones, Jr. Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Harris, Kern, Wallen & Tinsley i [5 7] ABSTRACT A champagne cork extractor comprising a wire cutter and a cork remover which are operated by gripping the bottle neck and a wire cutter handle in one hand and turning a cork extractor crank with the other hand.

7 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures TATENTED APR 21974 FEG.5.

FIRE.

1 CHAMPAGNE CORK EXTRACTOR AND WIRE CUTTER BACKGROUND OF INVENTION the telescopic square tubed extractor assembly and a portion of the cork clamp, neck clamp and wire cutter;

FIG. is a horizontal sectional view, taken as indi- This invention relates to a bottle cork remover which 5 cated by the arrows VV of FIG. 1, illustrating the enfacilitates the severing of the bottle wire and the removal of the cork from champagne bottles or the like.

The chief aim of the present'invention is to provide an improved means which will eliminate the conventional laborious and unsafe practice of extracting champagne corks, as evidenced by punctured fingers caused by broken binding wires, and wherein all too frequently, festive occasions have been turned into sad.- ness by a pressure ejected cork, which in effect'becomes a flying missile capable of inflicting painful facial injuries and occasionally the loss of an eye.

SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF INVENTION A generalobject of the present invention is to provide an improvedchampagne cork extractor comprising an integral wire cutter and cork remover, capable of severing the binding wire and removing the cork under positively controlled conditions, thereby harmlessly relieving the internal gas pressure and disarming a potential missile.

Another object of the present invention is to gradually release the gas pressure as the-cork is being removed from the bottle thereby minimizing the escape of the carbon dioxide gas in which the vintners have expended considerable effort to produce and retain, this desirable effervescent quality associated with excellent champagnes. I

Another object is to provide a means wherein the cork may be reinserted and firmly held in position to prevent further escape of the gas, thereby maintaining the effervescent quality of the unconsumed champagne for later consumption.

Another object is to provide a safe and easy means I to extract corks and stoppers from pressurized containers; and which, moreover, is light in weight, relatively imple in construction and sturdy against easy derangement over long periods of use.

The foregoing objects, advantages, features and results of the present invention, together with various other objects, advantages, features and results thereof which will be evident to those skilled in the art to which the invention relates in the light of this disclosure, may be achieved with the exemplary embodiments of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described in detail hereafter.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view, of the integral wire cutter and cork remover, illustrating its engagement to the neck of a conventional champagne bottle;

FIG.2 is a plan view of the device of the present invention, illustrating the hooded cork clamp and extractor handle;

FIG. 3 isa front elevational view of the device or as it appears when viewed from the left of FIG. 2, illustrating the engagement of the hooked cork clamp to the cork and the engagement of the forked neck clamp to the bottle neck flange;

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view, taken as indicated by the arrows IV--IV of FIG. 2, illustrating details of gagement of the neck clamp to the neck flange and the engagement of the dual wire cutter in position to sever the neck binding wire at two locations;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view, corresponding to FIG. 1, illustrating a modification to the wire cutter; and

FIG. 7 is a horizontal sectional view, taken as indicated by the arrows VII-VII of FIG. 6, illustrating the modified dual wire cutting assembly.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION Referring to FIGS. 1 and 4 of the drawings, the neck support frame 1 is integral with the stationary square tubed extractor column 2, which in turn has secured thereon a yoke-shaped supporting member 3. The latter is provided with angular flanges to engage the upper and lower surfaces of the bottle neck flange 4 (FIG. 3). The member 3 provides the base support for the thrusts generated by the wire cutting force and the extraction or reinsertion of the cork. The stationary column 2 (FIG. 4) supports the. slidably engaged telescopic square tubed extractor column 5, which in turn has secured thereon a cork retainer or clamp 6. The cork clamp 6 is provided with a hook 6a and angular flanges 6b to engage the upper and lower surfaces respectively of cork top or head 7. More particularly, the flanges 6b engage the under side of the downwardly facing annular shoulder formed by the head of the cork.'The telescopic column 5 is further provided with a doublethreaded extractor screw 10, which in turn is threadedly engaged to the thrust nut 11. The latter in turn is secured to the stationary column 2, as by screws 12. The upper portion of the. extractor screw 10, has a turning crank 14 secured thereon. Turning the crank 14 in a counter-clockwise direction will extend the telescopic column 5 in an upward direction after the neck binding wire 15 has been severed as will be described later in detail. The above arrangement facilitates the extraction and reinsertion of the cork and, moreover, provides a means as the cork is being extracted to gradually and safely vent off the pressurized carbon dioxide gas from the bottle, thereby disarming a potential missile under positive controlled conditions which could otherwise inflict bodily injury.

Wire Cutting Assembly Referring now to FIGS. 1, 4 and S, the wire cutting assembly consists of a relatively wide stationary jaw 20 secured to the bottom of the supporting member 3, as by screws 21. The opposite sides of jaw 20 are provided with integral brackets 22. The leading edge of the jaw 20 (FIG. 1) is tapered to facilitate penetration between the bottle neck flange 4 and the neck wire 15. The jaw 20 is magnetized to prevent the severed section of the neck binding wire 15, from falling on the table or floor when disengaging the cork extractor. The severed section may be conveniently removed later. Movable wire cutting jaws 25 are disposed on opposite sides of the stationary jaw 20 and are pivotally connected respectively to the brackets 22 of the stationary jaw 20 (FIGS. 1, 4 and 5), as by fulcra screws 26. The cutting edges of the jaws 25, which cut the binding wire 15 at 15a and 15b, FIG. 5 are provided with serrations 27 to better grip the binding wire, thereby preventing a tendency to force the wire cutters away from the bottle neck during the cutting process. A flat spring 30 is secured to the neck support frame 1. The spring 30 holds the handle 31 of wire cutting jaws 25 in an open position to facilitate engagement of the cork extractor to the bottle neck. The primary purpose of the dual wire cutter is best illustrated in FIGS. 15, wherein the cork retaining wire net consists of four twisted wire legs of which the distal ends of three of the legs are provided with loops 35, and the fourth leg 36 is integral with the net and its distal ends become the neck binding wire 15. The neck binding wire 15 in turn is provided with a twisted finger loop 38 (FIGS. 1 and 4), which provides the means, when untwisted, to release the neck binding wire 15 for the removal of the wire retaining net and the cork in a conventional manner. The finger loop 38 is normally bent upward against the bottle neck flange 4, when sealed by the Vintners, thereby pulling the neck binding wire up against the above mentioned neck flange 4. It is therefore desirable to bend the loop 38 downward against the bottle neck to provide additional clearance between the binding wire 15 and the bottle neck flange 4, facilitating the engagement of the wire cutter. It is also advantageous to engage the wire cutter on the same side as the finger loop 38, in view of the possible entanglement of the distal ends of the neck binding wire I if severed adjacent to either side of the integral leg 36 of the wire net, or to cut through three thicknesses of wire if one of the cutterjaws become engaged to the terminal twist 37 of the neck binding wire as seen in FIG. 3.. The wire cutter can be feasibly engaged to the quadrant which is clockwise to the finger loop 38. It can be readily seen in FIG. 5 the manner in which the dual wire cutters sever the neck binding wire 15 at the two locations 15a and 15b, thus facilitating the withdrawal of the two rear loops 35 from the severed ends of the neck binding wire 15, and thence up through the recesses 40 of the member 3, as the wire retaining net is being extracted with the cork 7. A slight alteration to the conventional wire retaining net would facilitate the engagement of the wire cutter to any quadrant, by simply providing the leg 36 with a loop 35 and providing a separate neck binding wire 15.

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate a modified wire cutter. The components having their counterparts in the first described embodiment of the invention are identified by the same reference numerals and only those features requiring a change of parts are identified by new reference numerals in the 100" series. The principal change is that the movable wire cutter jaw 101 is provided with a hook type cutting edge, and is pivotally connected at 103 to the actuating handle 104, which in turn is pivotally connected at 105 to brackets 106. The latter in turn are secured to the stationary square tubed column 2. A flat spring 107 is compressed as the jaw 101 is depressed by the neck binding wire 15 during engagement of the wire cutter to the bottle neck. After the cutting hook on the jaws 101 pass the neck binding wire 15, the springs 107 urge the jaws 101 upwardly and engage the jaw hook to the binding wire 15. The stationary jaw 112 has been modified to present a shear face to the hooked binding wire 15. A pair of jaw guides 110 are provided on the upper end of the neck support frame 111. The throats (FIG. 7) of the stationary jaw 112 and the neck clamp 114 have been altered at 115 to receive the finger loop 38 in the normal upright position as shipped from the Vintners, It is also feasible to modify the throats of the stationary jaw 20 and the member 3 of the first embodiment of this invention.

Although two exemplary embodiments of the invention have been disclosed herein for purposes of illustration, it will be understood that various changes, modifications and substitutions may be incorporated in such embodiments without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the claims which follow.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a cork extractor for a bottle having a neck which is provided with an external annular flange and which is closed by a cork having a head providing a downwardly facing annular shoulder, the combination of:

a. a yoke-shaped supporting member engageable with the neck of the bottle and having vertically spaced elements engageable with the upper and the lower surfaces of the external annular flange on the neck;

b. a cork retainer carried by and movable vertically relative to said supporting member and having vertically spaced elements engageable with the top and the downwardly facing annular shoulder of the cork; and

c. actuating means alongside said cork retainer and said supporting member, and positionable in laterally spaced relation from the neck of the bottle and the cork, for moving said cork retainer vertically relative to said supporting member.

2. A cork extractor as set forth in claim 1 wherein said actuating means comprises a nut carried by said supporting member and a screw carried by said cork retainer.

3. In a cork extractor and wire cutter for a bottle having a neck which is provided with an external annular flange and which is closed by a cork having a head providing a downwardly facing annular shoulder, the cork being retained by a binding wire enclosing the cork and encircling the neck of the bottle and engaging the lower surface of the external annular flange on the bottle, the combination of:

a. a yoke-shaped supporting member engageable with'the neck of the bottle and having vertically spaced elements engageable with the upper and the lower surfaces of the external annular flange on the neck;

b. a cork retainer carried by and movable vertically relative to said supporting member and having vertically spaced elements engageable with the top and the downwardly facing annular shoulder of the cork;

c. actuating means alongside said cork retainer and said supporting member, and positionable in laterally spaced relation from the neck of the bottle and the cork, for moving said cork retainer vertically relative to said supporting member; and

(1. cutting means carried by said supporting member for cutting the binding wire below the external annular flange on the bottle.

4. A cork extractor and wire cutter according to claim 3 wherein said cutting means includes means for cutting the binding wire below the external annular flange on the bottle at two circumferentially spaced points.

5. A cork extractor and wire cutter as set forth in claim 4 wherein said cutting means includes a magnet 6. in a cork extractor and wire cutter for a bottle having a neck which is provided with an external annular flange and which is closed by a cork having a head providing a downwardly facing annular shoulder, the cork being retained by a binding wire enclosing the cork and encircling the neck of the bottle and engaging the lower surface of the external annular flange on the bottle, the combination of:

a. a yoke-shaped supporting member engageable with the neck of the bottle and having vertically spaced elements engageable with the upper and the lower surfaces of the external annular flange on the neck;

b. av cork retainer carried by and movable vertically relative to said supporting member and having vertically spaced elements engageable with the top and the downwardly facing annular shoulder of the cork;

c. actuating means for moving said cork retainer vertically relative to said supporting member; and

(1. cutting means carried by said supporting member for cutting the binding wire below the external annular flange on the bottle, said cutting means including means for cutting the binding wire below the external annular flange on the bottle at two circumferentially spaced points simultaneously.

7. A cork extractor and wire cutter according to claim 6 wherein said cutting means includes wire cutting jaws having connected thereto a handle positionable adjacent the neck of the bottle and actuable by squeezing said handle and the bottle neck together.

Po-ww UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 9 CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent no. 3,800,345 Dated g ru 2, 1974 Inventor(s) Jack M. Feliz It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 1, line 6, "bottle" should be --binding--;

6011mm 1,, line 63, "hooked" should be --hooded--;

Column 2, line 29, "hook" should be --hood--.

Signed and sealed this 17th day of September 1974.

(SEAL) Attest:

MCCOY M. GIBSON JR. 0. MARSHALL DANN Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

1. In a cork extractor for a bottle having a neck which is provided with an external annular flange and which is closed by a cork having a head providing a downwardly facing annular shoulder, the combination of: a. a yoke-shaped supporting member engageable with the neck of the bottle and having vertically spaced elements engageable with the upper and the lower surfaces of the external annular flange on the neck; b. a cork retainer carried by and movable vertically relative to said supporting member and having vertically spaced elements engageable with the top and the downwardly facing annular shoulder of the cork; and c. actuating means alongside said corK retainer and said supporting member, and positionable in laterally spaced relation from the neck of the bottle and the cork, for moving said cork retainer vertically relative to said supporting member.
 2. A cork extractor as set forth in claim 1 wherein said actuating means comprises a nut carried by said supporting member and a screw carried by said cork retainer.
 3. In a cork extractor and wire cutter for a bottle having a neck which is provided with an external annular flange and which is closed by a cork having a head providing a downwardly facing annular shoulder, the cork being retained by a binding wire enclosing the cork and encircling the neck of the bottle and engaging the lower surface of the external annular flange on the bottle, the combination of: a. a yoke-shaped supporting member engageable with the neck of the bottle and having vertically spaced elements engageable with the upper and the lower surfaces of the external annular flange on the neck; b. a cork retainer carried by and movable vertically relative to said supporting member and having vertically spaced elements engageable with the top and the downwardly facing annular shoulder of the cork; c. actuating means alongside said cork retainer and said supporting member, and positionable in laterally spaced relation from the neck of the bottle and the cork, for moving said cork retainer vertically relative to said supporting member; and d. cutting means carried by said supporting member for cutting the binding wire below the external annular flange on the bottle.
 4. A cork extractor and wire cutter according to claim 3 wherein said cutting means includes means for cutting the binding wire below the external annular flange on the bottle at two circumferentially spaced points.
 5. A cork extractor and wire cutter as set forth in claim 4 wherein said cutting means includes a magnet for retaining any severed portion of the binding wire.
 6. In a cork extractor and wire cutter for a bottle having a neck which is provided with an external annular flange and which is closed by a cork having a head providing a downwardly facing annular shoulder, the cork being retained by a binding wire enclosing the cork and encircling the neck of the bottle and engaging the lower surface of the external annular flange on the bottle, the combination of: a. a yoke-shaped supporting member engageable with the neck of the bottle and having vertically spaced elements engageable with the upper and the lower surfaces of the external annular flange on the neck; b. a cork retainer carried by and movable vertically relative to said supporting member and having vertically spaced elements engageable with the top and the downwardly facing annular shoulder of the cork; c. actuating means for moving said cork retainer vertically relative to said supporting member; and d. cutting means carried by said supporting member for cutting the binding wire below the external annular flange on the bottle, said cutting means including means for cutting the binding wire below the external annular flange on the bottle at two circumferentially spaced points simultaneously.
 7. A cork extractor and wire cutter according to claim 6 wherein said cutting means includes wire cutting jaws having connected thereto a handle positionable adjacent the neck of the bottle and actuable by squeezing said handle and the bottle neck together. 